Tuesday, May 08, 2012

Modi, BJP fight a losing battle

Amicus curiae Raju Ramachandran has
pinpointed the vulnerability of Gujarat chief minister Narendra
Modi's position and role in the post-Godhra riots of 2002. Modi
failed to deal fairly and evenhandedly with the situation arising out
of the tense situation in the aftermath of the killing of VHP
activists on Sabarmati Express at Godhra. He did not live up to be
the good administrator that his supporters in the BJP and outside
claim him to be.

The man who sensed it immediately was
the shrewd Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He made the cryptic comment to TV
reporters at one of the camps of the victims that Modi should follow
'raj dharma'. It would have been better if Modi had stepped down
then. Though he has remained in power ever since and won many
political spurs for himself in the party, he has lost the bigger
battle of a good reputation. He may still scrape through the legal
tussle, which has now dragged for over a decade, but that may not be
sufficient to propel him on to the national scene and even pitch
himself as the BJP's prime ministerial hopeful.

It is not that the detractors and
enemies of Modi have made him a victim of allegations and innuendo.
The amicus curiae has sifted through the chaff of anger and
indignation, and he has come to the conclusion that Modi's approach
to the riots remains biased and therefore unjustified. Modi sought to
justify the riots as a reaction, and in doing so committed political
folly of the worse kind.

The BJP is trying its best to defend
its long-standing chief minister in Gujarat but they too seem to
realise that this is a losing battle. Political battles are won in
hearts and minds and not just in elections. Modi and the BJP are
losing this bigger battle as they try to look for technicalities that
save but do not redeem him.